Doug MowatA Tribute to a Life of Service (b.1929 Vancouver d. 1992 Vancouver)

“Doug Mowat truly did
lead a life of service, giving selflessly of himself for the betterment
of all his fellow citizens. In doing so, he left an indelible mark on
those who knew him, and knew of his work.”- Right Hon. Brian Mulroney (former Prime Minister of Canada).

Doug Mowat was born in 1929 in Vancouver, British
Columbia. The son of a tow boat chief engineer, he soon took to the
waters himself and mastered the double winches on local steamships in
the summers of ’46 and ‘47.

“He was a ‘harem-scare-em’ kind
of guy,” recalls best friend John Allan, who shared the deck with
him on the Lady Pam steamship. “We went to sea together for two
summers. He was very anxious to go to sea and become a professional
seaman, which ran in his family.”

But his life’s course changed heading.

At the age of 17, he was injured while at a rugby
party and became a quadriplegic. Though limited physically by the quadriplegia
and wheelchair he would now use to propel his body, his vision and imagination
held to no such boundaries.

After his injury, Mowat had an extensive and painful
recovery and rehabilitation at Vancouver General Hospital. His nerves
were still firing and his legs would occasionally spasm, leading to
burns when he’d kick off the light bulbs used to bake the plaster
casts he was put in.

But this didn’t get Doug down. Allan recalls
that Mowat never once complained about his fate. He was determined to
make it. He was so popular, Allan says, with streams of people constantly
visiting, the hospital needed to create a separate waiting room just
for his friends. Doug Mowat had that kind of charm and charisma, even
as a teen, his friend remembers.

“As far as Doug was concerned, ‘anything
you can do, I can do,’” recalls John Allan.
His new condition on discharge wasn’t going to pose insurmountable
barriers. Mowat drove himself home from hospital using hand-control
levers to steer the car. Later in life he would host car rallies to
remove driving restrictions from people with disabilities who used such
levers - proving that they were just as good - if not better drivers
- as the regular guys.

The Boy Scouts instilled the values of fellowship
and leadership in young Mowat and crystallized his commitment to service
to his fellows. He was a Boy Scout before his injury, and a Boy Scout
Rover ( the Scout organization for young men age 18 -22 ) after.
“We used to go camping [after his injury and discharge],”
remembers Allan. “We had a Scouting crew and Rover crew. We had
to be careful that we didn’t get Doug’s feet too close to
the fire cause he wouldn’t know if his feet were on fire, because
he had no feeling. I remember one camping unit when I was sleeping beside
him. He had a leg spasm and managed to kick himself outside the tent
under the flap. He had to wake me up to say, ‘Pull me in!’
He was lying out there in the pouring rain with his face getting washed!”

Fortunately, Scouting also taught Mowat how to work
well with others and manage people- skills he would use throughout his
career of public service.

In the mid ’50’s Mowat needed a job, and
was hired by the Dueck family to work as the late-hours salesman in
their tire shop at Broadway and Fir. “His attraction to people
was such that it soon became a common meeting place,” recalls
Allan.

Soon Mowat became involved in the beginnings of the
sport of wheelchair basketball at the gymnasium of the Western Rehabilitation
Centre. With him as manager, and Allan as referee, they would play pick-up
games with service groups and with the local kids at Vancouver schools.
Enter sponsorship from the Dueck’s, and later on the world would
see the “Dueck Powerglides” and the B.C. Wheelchair Basketball
League. He would follow the sport through his life and go on to manage
teams that competed in Israel and Germany.

“While Doug couldn’t play himself, he
was an interesting manager,” recounts Allan. “He understood
the game, and was a very positive person. He would be able to give direction
that made good sense and kept things going. He had no patience with
people who weren’t able to follow through with what they should
do.”

Mowat took an active social position in the late ’50’s
and early ’60’s. He had the strong emotional support from
his mother and father - and boosts from his friends in dealing with
his quadriplegia - and he was to give back using all of his skills and
gifts. He joined the Vancouver Gyro club (a non-profit fundraising organization
for charities) with Allan, eventually becoming president. He helped
found the B.C. Paraplegic Association (BCPA) in 1957 – expanding
the association to assist other wheelchair people both physically and
psychologically. He held the post of executive director of the BCPA
from 1962 until his passing. In 1961 he married his wife and dedicated
partner, Ann - an incredible source of support for him.

Mowat was largely responsible for bringing the first
wave of wheelchair accessibility to the City of Vancouver. Curb cuts
in sidewalks, better bus and taxi access, and wheelchair accessible
public washroom doors can all be traced to his legacy of public service.
For his work on behalf of people with disabilities, he received the
Order of Canada in 1982, recognizing his life of service and achievement.
But he was not done yet.

Mowat became more politically involved, and in the
early ’80’s, ran and was elected to the Vancouver Park Board.
He was persuaded by colleagues to consider running for provincial politics
and ran as MLA for Vancouver Little Mountain in 1983.

“I remember him very clearly talking to me:
‘should I do this?’ Allan recalls. “Doug and I were
very close friends. I told him, ‘Doug it’s going to take
a lot of time and a lot of difficulty because for one thing, [people
may think] how could a quadriplegic possibly serve his community with
his paralytic condition? And also [some] people think if you broke your
back, you broke your head!” I said, ‘it’s very hard
for you now to turn down the chance to achieve this so that people will
realize that a quadriplegic can serve his community very well.’”

Mowat was elected to the B.C. Legislature in 1983,
holding his position until 1991. In 1984, he was appointed parliamentary
secretary to the Minister of Health and to the Minister of Social Services
and Housing. He served all of his constituents well, according to colleagues
from both sides of the legislature, and along the way, inspired, shaped,
and mentored young people who would go on to choose a life of public
service as elected officials.

“It didn’t matter what party Doug was
with, in a matter of ways,” recalls his protégé
since the ’70’s from the BCPA, Al DeGenova. “He got
along so well with the [other politicians], and they respected him on
the opposition better than anybody. They could never really pounce on
Doug because they knew he was there for all the right reasons.”

DeGenova, Vancouver’s current Park Commissioner
(for the fifth term running) recalls, “Before he passed away,
Doug met me and encouraged me to run for the Vancouver Park Board. He
encouraged me to make the city more accessible.

“Doug was a huge influence in revitalizing Vancouver’s
Chinatown in the early ’80’s. He helped raise funds for
the lighting program with B.C. Hydro, back in the days when Chinatown
was really struggling. He left a number of legacy things through the
City and Park Board for youth and seniors- it didn’t mean everybody
had to be a quadriplegic or paraplegic, he just helped to make things
accessible in a lot of ways.

“He taught me to be who I was [as an elected
public servant]; to be genuine. It was your credibility; your integrity
and genuineness. There were never ‘political’ strategies
or ways with Doug. He was the best politician because of his charismatic
way; his genuineness.

He was shrewd, no doubt, in getting things done, but
he did things for all the right reasons. That was his key to a successful
life as a public servant, and for running the [BCPA] and everything
else that he sat on.”

Doug Mowat served his community well, and passed away
in Vancouver on August 11, 1992.